A new study by The Children’s Society has found debt collection—visits from bailiffs, repeated phone calls, the threat of eviction—can have a negative impact on a child’s mental state.

They also discovered that children in low-income families with multiple debts are at higher risk of suffering from mental health problems than those in families who owe money to a single type of creditor.

The charity concluded it is the number of debts owed rather than the total amount that is the crucial factor when considering the relationship between debt and mental problems in children.

An estimated 2.4m children in England and Wales are living in households with problem debt. The charity’s report, The Damage of Debt, found 23%—over 500,000—of children in debt-ridden families report being unhappy with their lives.

This means that children living in families struggling with problem debt are five times more likely to be unhappy than those in families without debt troubles.

The Children’s Society has urged the Government to provide a 12-month breathing space for families in problem debt, giving them time to seek advice so they do not then face visits from bailiffs.

‘The misery that debt can cause parents is well documented but now we can also demonstrate the real damage it can do to children’s mental health,’ said the charity’s chief executive, Matthew Reed.

‘It’s time this country paused and gave families the breathing space they need to escape the debt trap. Families need an affordable route out that does not force them to make impossible decisions between feeding and clothing their children, and paying the bills.

‘Without Government action to give struggling parents time to get their finances in order children will continue to be the innocent victims.’

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To support users and ex-users of psychiatric services in the Manchester area. The organisation provides a forum for services users to have a bona fide say in planning and provision of mental health services.

Protesters in King’s Lynn fight against mental health service cuts

Protesters took to the streets of King’s Lynn to voice their anger at what they described as “continuous” cutbacks to mental health services in west Norfolk.

Mental health cuts protest

A protest march against cuts to mental health services and the Fermoy Unit at the QEH took place in King's Lynn town centre. Picture: Matthew Usher.

More than 100 campaigners marched from The Walks through the town centre before finishing outside the Majestic Cinema.

Peter Smith, former parliamentary candidate for south-west Norfolk said: “We are in the fight of our lives here.”

The protest was triggered by the Fermoy Unit, an in-patient NHS facility in Lynn for mental health, which campaigners say faces an uncertain future. The unit was briefly closed to new admissions earlier this month, but reopened last week, albeit with fewer beds.

Mr Smith said: “In my lifetime we have never had to fight like this, but what is the alternative?”

But Debbie White, director of operations for Norfolk at the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, said there were now no plans to axe the Fermoy Unit.

She added: “It is right that mental health services should be valued and funded on the same level as acute health services, and it is understandable people feel passionate about the Fermoy Unit remaining open.”

Labour party activist Jo Rust insisted the issue would not disappear. She said: “They have been talking about closing it for a long time. We will fight and we will not let them do that.”

Beth Anthony, 18 of Dersingham, said: “We are here to protest against the continuous cuts to the mental health service, we think it’s unacceptable. My younger brother suffers from poor mental health and has to travel to London... That is to the detriment of my family because we have to pay for him to go down by train every single month.”